When an elderly Australian woman apparently vanished from view eight years ago, no one bothered to call the police. Not her relatives, her neighbors, or government officials, who kept paying her welfare benefits into a bank account that sat untouched.
一位澳大利亞老嫗在8年前從眾人視線中消失，卻沒有人報警。親人、鄰居、政府官員對此事均不知曉，她的銀行賬戶里定期還會收到各種社會福利。

New South Wales state police said Wednesday that they discovered the woman's skeletal remains on the floor of her Sydney home on Tuesday, after her sister-in-law finally called them to report that she had not heard from the woman – who would have turned 87 next month – since 2003.
新南威爾士州警察局周三表示，在他們接到老人嫗妯娌電話報告說，從2003年老人87歲的前一個月開始，她就再也沒有聽到過老人消息了，警察周二在老嫗悉尼家中發(fā)現(xiàn)她時，她的尸體還躺在地板上。

"It's sad that the woman appears to have died several years ago without anyone noticing," said police Acting Superintendent Zoran Dzevlan.
“這位女士死了幾年都沒有被發(fā)現(xiàn)的確很令人難過，”警察行動小組負責(zé)人Zoran Dzevlan說。

Police were trying to determine exactly when the woman died, but said they didn't think the death was suspicious.
警方曾試圖確定老嫗具體死亡時間，但是他們說老人應(yīng)該是自然死亡。

The woman, whose name was not released by police, was a recluse who had no relatives except for her sister-in-law, Dzevlan said. The two had a fight in 2003 and never spoke again. Police have not said why the sister-in-law waited years to report the woman missing, or what prompted her to call now.
警方?jīng)]有透露這位陳尸家中的老婦的姓名，但是我們可以知道，她是自己獨自居住，除了一個弟媳以外沒有其他親人，Dzevlan說。她們倆2003年發(fā)生了爭吵，從此之后就再也沒有聯(lián)系過了。警方并沒有說明為什么老婦的弟媳為什么要在8年之后才報告老嫗失蹤，又是什么讓她選擇了八年后的今天來報警。

As the years passed, utility companies cut off the power and water to the woman's home, police said. Centrelink, the government's welfare agency, continued to pay her benefits to her bank account, which remained untouched. Neighbors told police they hadn't seen her in years and assumed the house was vacant.
警方表示，這些年來水電公司早已將老人住的屋子斷水斷電。政府福利機構(gòu)福利署這些年也一直在給老人的銀行賬戶支付養(yǎng)老金。鄰居告訴警方說他們已經(jīng)有很久沒有見到過老人，并確定老人的屋子一直是空著的。

Police said the woman's home was locked and furnished, but looked like no one had lived there for years.
警方說老嫗家門緊鎖，里面有家具，但是能看出來這所房子已經(jīng)很久沒人住過了。

"To hear today that an elderly lady can pass away, be dead for eight years and for Centrelink to still be sending checks to her bank account and for those checks not to be cashed – surely that must set off the alarm bells within government," New South Wales Police Minister Mike Gallacher said.
“今天聽說一位老人去世8年才被警方發(fā)現(xiàn)，而福利署居然仍然在給老人的銀行賬戶發(fā)錢，而這些錢并沒有被動過——這很明顯是在給政府部門敲警鐘，”新南威爾士郡警察局局長Mike Gallacher說。